Kenya to host inaugural Africa Food Show in 2020

Kenya will in 2020 host the inaugural Africa Food Show that will bring together policymakers, industry executives, farmers and consumers to learn about emerging trends in trade on agricultural commodities, organisers said on Tuesday.

David Wang, the Chairman of MIE Groups, the event organiser, said this in Nairobi.

The premier event, which will take place in Nairobi from June 24 to 26 in 2020, will help showcase food products, processing and packaging technologies to investors as well as consumers.

“Africa Food Show will provide a platform for the next generation of entrepreneurs to gain a better understanding of the market for agricultural commodities in the continent,’’ Wang said.

Wang said that Kenya’s strategic position as a logistics hub informed the decision to host the inaugural continental food summit that is expected to unlock opportunities for local farmers, processors and distributors.

“Kenya has modern infrastructure, policy support, growing foreign direct investments that are an incentive for hosting African Food Show and highlight untapped opportunities to global agricultural commodity traders.’’

The inaugural Africa Food Show, which will be held concurrently with China Trade Week, is expected to position Kenya as an attractive investment destination for agro-processing.

Lucy Njenga, Director of Policy Research and Regulation in the Ministry of Agriculture, said the event would boost the government’s food and nutritional security agenda.

“We are open to hosting an event that will provide an opportunity for farmers and investors to exchange knowledge on technologies and innovations that are key to promote food security and incomes through value addition,’’ said Njenga.

She said that Kenya would leverage the Africa Food Show to attract additional investors in value chains such as storage, processing and distribution in order to lift the fortunes of smallholder farmers.

Fadi Kaddoura, Vice President in charge of Sales and Marketing at MIE Groups, said the event would feature exhibitions alongside the business-to-business meetings.

The meeting is expected to raise the visibility of the continent’s major agricultural commodities.

The commodities will including cereals, fresh produce, spices and nuts. FAT/AIB

Takavarasha, who was peaking during the flagging off at Lodwar airstrip, said the donation is in response to the reported sightings of mature copulating swarms last month, which have resulted in the current 200 hopper bands sites in both pasture and farmlands as well as urban centers.

“Turkana is now the epicenter of Desert Locust control measures, with the highest number of hopper band sites reported. The number of counties infested with desert locusts now has reduced from 28 to four counties. That is Turkana, Marsabit, Samburu and Isiolo,” he said.

FAO said it has also collaborated with some partners to support counties to mobilize the movement of ground teams to perform both surveillance and control measures in the most affected counties.

According to the UN, about 3.1 million people in arid and semi-arid areas of the country are food insecure, and increased breeding of desert locusts, coupled with the current flooding as well as COVID-19pandemic, poses a wider risk of food and pasture shortage.

“Explosive materials including 17 rolls of detonating codes and one packet containing 100 pieces of supreme detonators have been recovered by a multi-agency team of officers,” DCI said in a statement on Friday evening.

Kenya’s tourism and hospitality sector players vowed on Friday to adhere to all safety and hygiene protocols against COVID-19pandemic to instill confidence to both domestic and international travelers.

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), a government marketing body, said hospitality has been among the first sectors in the country to be reopened with eateries and restaurants gradually reopening within set out guidelines of safety.

“The opening of travel will begin with domestic, here we should begin to show our preparedness and that we are ready to make sure that they are safe within our facilities,” Radier said during a tourism sector roundtable webinar hosted by the KTB.

The meeting brought together industry players to deliberate on the sector’s preparedness for resumption.

She pointed out that already facilities were picking and embracing hygiene and preparedness protocols.

“We have been able to see that with Nairobi National Park showing clarity in protocols and this has seen an increase in visitor uptake to the facility,” Radier said.

Kenya tourism is the third-largest source of foreign exchange, supporting about 1.5 million jobs especially in rural areas and dominates the service sector.

“As an industry, we have come up with a set of protocols. We believe that we can win this fight, we just need to focus. What is required is communication on behavioral change especially in other subsectors like transport to ensure that the numbers don’t continue to increase,” Macharia.

“I want to confirm that all the measures that we have come up with are in line with what ICAO provided. Some of them to mention a few are sanitization from the screening yard to the terminal building. We are also disinfecting the equipment within the airport as well as physical distancing within the premises of the airports,” Gitati said.

Kenya pledges to expand green areas

President Uhuru Kenyatta who led government and private sector representatives in a tree planting exercise to commemorate the day said the government is fully committed to the conservation agenda.

He said the government will step up efforts to expand the number and size of conservancies, arboreta, parks and wildlife reserves so as to ensure the country’s botanical and zoological diversity is maintained.

“We are also reclaiming our Ngong Forest and we are going to start the process of fencing it and ensuring that it is also available not only for the present but for future generations,” he said.

“We have done in the last one month another 2,000 acres for Nairobi National Park and this is what we want to continue doing including restoration of various green areas, among them rehabilitation of City Park,” said the president.

He underscored the key role that forests play as a reservoir of biodiversity, saying Kenya is on course to achieving the 10 percent national tree cover target.

As part of the government’s conservation agenda, Kenyatta said all major infrastructure projects including the Standard Gauge Railway are being implemented in a manner that ensures that biodiversity is not tampered with.

“As a government, we have also taken steps to ensure that the infrastructure projects being implemented, which are a key driver of economic growth, do not cause any degradation to our natural habitats and biodiversity,” he said.

Kenyatta called for closer cooperation between government entities, the private sector and local communities, saying such collaborations have enabled Kenya to register a fall in wildlife poaching incidents, illegal logging and human-wildlife conflicts.

“We have witnessed the catastrophic effect single-use plastics have on our ecosystems and our communities,” said Dipesh Pabari, project leader for FlipFlopi, which built a sailing boat out of waste to raise awareness of the scourge threatening the world’s oceans.

“And now, during the [coronavirus] pandemic, we are witnessing first-hand what happens when we destroy our planet,” he said.

However, activist James Wakibia told dpa: “I would have preferred it if the ban were countrywide, and not just in protected areas,” adding that most plastics get into those areas via other channels, such as rivers, rather than the main gates.

Kenya coffee farmers adopt home processing to seek better prices

Some small-scale coffee farmers in Kenya have started processing their coffee to protect the quality, aiming to get a share of the lucrative premium export market where quality coffee beans fetch a premium price.

Data from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange shows that top quality coffee known as AA grade fetched up to 45,326 shillings (about 427 United States dollars) per 50-kg bag compared to a price of 199 dollars fetched by the majority of the coffee during the auction that ended on May 24th.

“Coffee has money. But it needs to be of high-quality coffee. That is why I decided to do home processing to ensure I maintain high quality,” Muchiri told Xinhua on Friday at his farm.

When the coffee is processed at home, it is then taken to a miller where it is also milled separately and then graded ready for auction in the capital Nairobi or direct export.

Traditionally in Kenya, green harvested coffee is taken to a common processing factory owned by farmers where different grades are mixed.

Although grading happens later when the coffee is milled, the final payment is usually an average of the price fetched by all the grades, meaning that those farmers who have to take care of their coffee to get a better grade are not rewarded.

According to Muchiri, processing his coffee at home has enabled him to earn at least double and sometimes triple the amount of money earned by other farmers who sell through the cooperative societies.

“My coffee goes to the market as organically grown and therefore specialty coffee, which fetches a premium,” he said.

Gichuki Wambari, 54, from Nyeri County also in central Kenya, said he invested some 1,000 dollars in machinery to process his coffee.

“The pay from home processed coffee is better than processing and selling collectively,” he said.

He said although he is yet to establish a stable market for his coffee which he processes and then outsources the milling services, he is realizing better returns.

Home processing is part of the ongoing formal and informal reforms taking place in the coffee industry which was once Kenya’s largest foreign exchange earner.

President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed a committee to advise and steer reforms in the industry in 2016. The final report from the committee will be ready in July, said its head, Joseph Kieyah.

He said that KFS has developed guidelines for the implementation of the national ban with an overall goal of contributing to the sustainable management of plastic waste in the country.

“KFS is rolling out programs to educate stakeholders, promote appropriate alternatives to the use of single-use plastics in the forest areas, sensitize communities on the laws and regulations and ensure the ban is fully enforced, “said Kamau.

He said that the use of polythene tubes to grow seedlings in nurseries managed by KFS and other stakeholders will also come to an end.

He said that KFS has developed a transition plan that will guide the use of polythene tubes in tree nurseries, with a policy of reusing and recycling being applied in all forest reserves.

Dumping waste in a forest without authority is prohibited and any person convicted of this, is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three million shillings (about 30,000 United States dollars) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or both.

Feature: Kenyan slum dwellers on edge amid spike in COVID-19 cases

Johnston Waweru huddles around a communal water point with nearly ten other people, all eagerly waiting to fetch water, a precious commodity in the informal settlement area. Here, the idea of social distancing is a myth.

The middle-aged casual laborer is a resident of the densely inhabited Kiambiu slums, located on the eastern edges of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Kiambiu slum is characterized by littered broken bottles, haphazardly disposed face coverings, the trade of uncovered cooked food and close engagements of area residents oblivious of a looming danger.

“Social distancing is impossible if not unachievable because of our poor economic status. Our quarters are thinly spaced out leaving no adequate space for the pathways,” said Waweru. “It is common to rub shoulders with people along the narrow paths.”

Last year’s national census put Kenya’s urban informal settlement population at over 1.5 million. The presence of a large population coupled with poor sanitation has made these areas a ticking time bomb.

The government established an exponential rise in cases after conducting targeted testing in these areas.

Waweru says that his community is aware of a simmering health crisis, however implementing some directives such as hunkering down at home is not an option for people who live from hand to mouth.

“We are making use of handwashing stations donated by well-wishers as well as donning our face masks but we still feel at risk. Financial constraints have kept residents with underlying health conditions out of hospital, leaving them vulnerable to COVID-19,” Waweru told Xinhua during a recent interview.

Kibra, the largest slum in Africa has recorded more than 200 positive cases and the government has alluded at introducing further measures in addition to the dawn to dusk curfew, to protect the area from a disastrous eventuality.

“We are continuing to watch this epicenter within Kibra and are mapping out clusters because it’s possible that not the entire Kibra has cases. Meanwhile, measures to completely lock them down are on the table and the government will effect this when it feels it’s necessary,” said Rashid Aman, chief administrative secretary, Ministry of Health.

On account of this situation, community interventions as well as grass-root authority has been singled out by health experts as an effective way of sensitizing communities living in the urban slums.

He said that his administration continues to receive donations of masks, sanitizers as well as soap from the national government while reiterating his commitment to working with local communities to protect them from the disease.

“My administration will continue to enforce comprehensive and rigorous preventive measures to ensure the disease does not penetrate into the area,” said Runo.

Roundup: Kenyans ready for partial lifting of COVID-19 restrictions

A cloud of expectation hangs over Kenya as citizens are ready for the easing of some restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the COVID-19.

Private businesses, places of worship and government offices are among entities that are gearing up for the resumption of operations after June 6, the day when current restrictions end and President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to review the measures.

Kenyatta hinted that the government will loosen some of the restrictions, noting that lockdowns and curfews are unsustainable in the long term.

He noted that once the restrictions are partially lifted, citizens will be expected to remain responsible by wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distancing to curb the spread of the disease.

Kenya imposed a partial lockdown in the capital Nairobi and four other counties some 70 days ago and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew across the country, which are the restrictions lauded for slowing down infections.

But they have affected business for schools, gyms, bars and hotels, among others, with up to 1.2 million people losing jobs, according to the Labor Ministry of Kenya.

It is these businesses that are ready to reopen by installing handwashing and sanitation points and measures to enforce social distancing.

In a separate section, another was remodeling chairs and tables to comply with measures to curb the spread of the disease in anticipation of the partial reopening of the country.

And at the entrance, a handwashing point was prominently installed as well as sanitizers at various points.

Like many other such facilities, all its workers would be expected to take COVID-19 tests and get certificates to show they are free of the disease.

“We were not offering to take away services or did not open earlier because it did not make sense to reopen when workers are still at home. But we believe this is the right time when the government is expected to loosen some restrictions,” said a worker introduced as Martin Kinuthia.

Places of worship are also instituting measures to allow the resumption of services.

Among the new protocols, they are taking the use of thermo guns, having shorter services, ensuring all worshippers sanitize by washing hands and installation of sanitation booths and everyone must wear face masks.

“As we wait for the presidential directive, it has been agreed upon by the government and religious leaders that the following measures must be taken. There shall be a sitting plan with markings on the floor where chairs will be placed observing the 1.5 meter rule in all directions,” said John Kitula, the administrative secretary of the African Inland Church.

Other places of worship, including mosques, will follow the same protocols to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“We cannot stay in a lockdown forever, as a government we make money from taxes but most people are currently not working. We must reopen the economy but under strict guidelines,” said Kibicho.

But as the cloud of optimism hangs over Kenya amid the rise in infections, health experts have warned that most citizens are throwing caution to the wind by resuming old behavior that does not help to curb the spread of the virus.